FCP X: Working With Proxy Media

[ This article was first published in the July, 2011, issue of Larry’s Final Cut Pro Newsletter. Click here to subscribe. ]

Fiver Löcker asks:

How do I work with proxy media?

Larry replies: This is tricky, because the Help files don’t detail this process. But it is actually very simple.

Proxies are transcoded (converted) copies of your master files. They use ProRes 422 Proxy and are at 1/4 the size of the original. For instance, here the original ProRes 422 file for this Youth Culture clip is 238.3 MB in size.

When it gets transcoded to a Proxy, the size plummets to 19 MB. The quality is not as good, but this can save a lot of space while you are doing the rough cut.

Here’s the overview of working with proxies:

Create Proxy media either during import or by transcoding later.

Change a preference setting to use Proxy media.

When you want to switch back to high-quality media, change the preference setting again.

Here are the details.

1. Assuming you did not create Proxy media when you first imported your clips, select the clip(s) for which you want to create proxies.

Having the same problem.Import in proxy, edit in proxy, want to export using original media but it keeps exporting the proxy instead. It looks horrible. Cost me a job last week, just couldn’t make the deadline with the need to reimport and transcode 750 GB of footage and re-edit.

Did you pre-transcode to proxy and import that as “original.” Or did you just edit in proxy? If so, you just need to change the playback preferences to original or optimized prior to exporting.

I edit only in proxy sometimes with DSLR footage on my laptop. I have a drive that holds the original media, and I import choosing not to copy originals and to create proxies. Then I can take my laptop with me leaving the originals behind, and only need to connect the originals drive when doing my final export.

is there anyway to get a project with files that arent proxies exported from final cut pro x ? ive imported my media into the event browser and i thought it shouldve transcoded it by it self. it has not and now i have a finished a project and when i try to export it in apple pro res 422 or apple pro res 422 (hq) or any export setting for that matter it says error and its because of missing proxy. how do i export with out having to go back in to make all the media ive imported proxys and redo my hole project ? ive tryed everything and have been looking on the internet for hours now.

You can check the file status of your files in the inspector by choosing Show File Status from the gear menu. That will show you file location for the original, whether Original or Proxy exists, and what event the clip is from.

all postproduction we are doing, cutting, color correction etc, actually is a code similar when we are building a web site. To do it doesn’t require the original media we can work with a clone of the original, that is exactly what FCP X do when transcoding, the program create a folder with a mirror media to le the flow of post more efficient, once our postproduction is done, we switch it to original en export.

Where does this folder live specifically? (the folder where FCPX stores it’s proxies, or “mirror media” as you put it.)

The reason I ask is because I think I disrupted this folder path somehow, my FCPX will work with original media, but once I switch it to work with Proxy media everything goes offline, until I transcode the media manually which can take hours on my Laptop.

Has any one dealt with a similar problem?

I have been running FCPX on my MacAir, early 2014, for some time and have never run into this issue until now.

Hello Larry, I have been following your blogs very recently. I have to say it has helped me understand the subject quite a bit. I m new to this.. I have shot for a project recently.. I used a sony A7sII at 60 fps for slo-mo NTSC format. Certain footages have also been recorded through atomos shogun pro res HQ( Is this better quality?)My final output will be PAL and the brand website. To get the best quality and also have PAL output..how should I go about it.?. M using fcpx 10.2.3.. The A7sII files..Should I transcode them first into prores? How do I find out if it is uncompressed 8 bit or 10 bit? thanks again

Hi Larry, Need your insight on working with FCP X 10.2.3. In the Playback Preferences window it only gives me the option to “Create Optimized Media for Multicam Clips” , but no reference to proxies. That’s not a problem, per se. But my question is a newbie one. I’m importing from RD3 files. I chose the “Create Proxy” box (conversion to Apple ProRes 422 proxy), to edit. I decided to do a test run on one small clip of my film first. After editing a bit for color, etc., I chose the option to “relink to original files”.I saw the edited clip “re-render” after I did that. Then I went to export, but I cannot seem to get it to export with the quality of the original RD3. It seems to export “soft & fuzzy” as far as resolution, even when I choose the “Create Optimized Media” box in the Playback Preference window. When re-linking to RD3 should I have to compress to maintain that level of image quality? Is there an other option during export I should be on the lookout for? Thank you in advance for any thoughts…

Hi Larry. Thank you for the guide! I did steps 1-3, and all went well. but when I get to #4 (switching the viewer to “proxy” ) the clip in the timeline says “Missing Proxy”. I even tried to click the clip in the timeline to “transcode”, but that option is greyed out. I double checked the process you advised twice, repeating steps 1-3 to make 100% sure I had checked the create proxy box when initially uploading the file from my external hard drive where all my R3D files are…but, alas, same issue. When I switch the viewer to “proxy” to edit efficiently, the window says “missing proxy”.

Thanks again of the step by step. I slowed myself down to critically look at each step you offered and realized my issue were a product of my being an impatient dufus. I had not waited for the proxy to generate upon initial import before I dragged the optimized clip into timeline. Once I slowed my butt down and waited for a proxy to generate all was well.

Good question, but I don’t know the answer. FCP X 10.0.x is really limited when it comes to proxies. My suspicion is that they can’t be moved – BUT, look in the Library bundle to see if there is a folder for Proxy files – it won’t be the same folder as Original Media. If so, your technique of using aliases will work there, too.

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